As a teenager she made her feature film debut in the 1995 Shunji Iwai film Love Letter playing the role of Itsuki Fujii as a young girl. The film was a huge box-office success and Miki picked up a number of awards for her role including a Japanese Academy Award for 'Newcomer of the Year'.[2]
She also starred in Hagusen nagashi (1996) on TV as well as in numerous other television series and movies. Miki's portrayal of the character Tomie in the 2001 horror movie Tomie: Re-birth was one of the more popular interpretations of the role.
On October 19, 2008, she married a doctor working at a university hospital who is four years older than her.[3] In October 2009, she announced on her official blog that she was pregnant with her first child, and gave birth to her first son in 2010.[4]
In 2019, while continuing her acting career, she announced that she had enrolled in a private graduate school in Tokyo.[5] In March 2023, she reported that she had completed her Master's degree in International Cooperation Studies at Toyo Eiwa University.[6]
^"酒井美紀が4歳年上医師と挙式 「これがスタートライン」と入籍報告" [Miki Sakai marries doctor four years older than her, reports marriage registration as "this is the starting line"]. eltha. Oricon. 2008-10-19. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
^"俳優の酒井美紀さんが男児を出産／都内の病院で" [Miki Sakai gives birth to a baby boy at a hospital in Tokyo]. Shikoku Shimbun. 2010-03-20. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
^"酒井美紀、女優＆母親＆大学院進学の三刀流で人生２度目の「頑張る時期」" [Miki Sakai, actress, mother, and graduate school student, in her second "time to work hard" in life]. Sanspo. Sankei Digital. 2019-03-09. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
^"酒井美紀、大学院修士課程の修了を報告「涙がこみあげてきました」 育児＆仕事と並行し研究…「詰め込みすぎな4年間」" [Miki Sakai reports on completion of her master's degree: "Tears welled up in my eyes" - "Four years packed with activities" as she juggles childcare and work]. Oricon News. Oricon. 2023-03-18. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
^"ジュブナイル". eiga.com. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
